


What's New, Pussycat?

by lady_blackwell



Category: Agent Carter (TV)
Genre: F/F, Kinda, angie has a cat, peggy does not like animals
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-08
Updated: 2015-10-08
Packaged: 2018-04-25 08:37:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,228
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4953622
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lady_blackwell/pseuds/lady_blackwell
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Modern Cartinelli AU. Based on the prompt: "Okay, I don’t want to be that jerk but our building has a strict No Pet Policy and your cat will not stop meowing and and I WILL report you and oh no you’re cute."</p>
            </blockquote>





	What's New, Pussycat?

It seemed that "insanity is the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result each time" was the most appropriate quote to describe Peggy Carter's current living situation.

Normally, Peggy would have been singing the praises of where she was living; The Griffith was a secure and affordable building right in the heart of New York City, and she had been very happy to call it home for the past year and a half. Not only was the price a perk, but almost every other resident happened to be female, and Peggy had quickly built up a close network of friends, which helped her recover from the pain of losing her fiancé. Her best friend, Colleen, who lived next door, had moved away about one month ago to care for her sick mother, and another person, who Peggy had yet to meet, had moved in.

And therein the problems had started.

Her new neighbor, it seemed, owned a cat. Not only was that a blatant violation of the building's rules, but the cat had decided to make its presence known to practically everyone on the block by yowling at the moon at all hours of the night. Peggy had initially ignored the noise, hoping the cat would settle down or that it was only staying there temporarily, but as the month went on the cat showed no sign of either maturing or going away. As Peggy was a light sleeper, the cat was keeping her from sleeping. Not even earplugs could help her block out the noise, and her co-workers had begun to notice her exhaustion and irritability. Sousa had responded by bringing her extra cups of coffee (likely hoping he'd get a date as a thank-you), Thompson simply continued rolling his eyes and muttered more sexist comments about how women didn't belong in the intelligence community, and Dooley had called her into his office twice during the past week to ask if he needed to set her up with the SSR's resident psychiatrist for an examination. 

The above things Peggy could deal with. She had practically run on sleep exhaustion while serving in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the rapid changes in intelligence and threats meant that her boss and co-workers could quickly forget about the issues she was having. What she could not deal with was coming home from work, completely exhausted, only to find a cat on her windowsill chewing on her potted plants. The cat had the good graces to run back to its home as soon as it sensed her presence, but her poor plants would likely not recover.

Peggy had fumed the rest of the evening, trying to figure out a way to get rid of the damn cat. Ultimately she figured reporting the person to Fry would get the problem taken care of, but that would also likely get the poor person kicked out, and Peggy couldn't think she could handle the guilt over causing another person's homelessness. So, after fortifying herself with pizza and whiskey, she decided to take the slightly more passive-aggressive route and pen a strongly-worded letter on her laptop.

_To whomever lives in 3C:_

_I must inform you that our building has a strict no-pets policy_ , she typed, _And while I am not one to poke around in the private lives of my neighbours, your cat's yowling has kept me from having a peaceful night's rest for the past month. Not only that, but today I came home to find it chewing on my potted plants. I hate to be the one to threaten you in this manner, but I cannot stand to live like this any longer. If you do not find a new home for your cat by the end of next week, I shall be forced to report you to Ms. Fry._

_Your neighbour,_

_M. Carter._

Satisfied that the letter seemed fair but stern enough to spurn her neighbor in to action, Peggy printed it off and shoved it into the nearest envelope. Opening the door and almost guiltily sneaking out of her room, she shoved the letter under the door to 3C, grinning half with pride, half with glee as she raced back into her room and jumped into bed. At last, a peaceful night's sleep was once again on the horizon.

Now, if only she could figure out a way to survive the remaining days of incessant meowing.

* * *

As Peggy ascended the stars to her apartment the next evening, exhausted not only from the lack of sleep but from the sheer amount of paperwork she'd had to fill out that day, she heard a commotion coming from down the hall. When she had made her way to her floor, she noticed a woman with light brown hair frantically pacing upl, trying to look in as many nooks and crannies as she could without bringing too much attention to herself. Peggy, exhausted as she was, found it within herself once she had approached the other woman to be a good neighbor and see what was going on,

"Miss, are you okay?" she asked, which only served to cause the other woman to start hyperventilating even more.

"Mr. Jiggles escaped! Oh, you gotta help me, Gia will kill me if I've lost him or if that mean neighbor got to him!"

"Miss, please, slow down," Peggy said as she placed her hand on the hyperventilating woman's shoulder, "Now, who on Earth is Mr. Jiggles, how did you lose him, and why would Gia be angry if you did?"

The younger woman took a deep breath and turned to face Peggy fully, and one look at the woman's tear-filled baby blues was enough to send Peggy's heart aflutter. _Calm yourself, you fool_. She was so utterly engrossed at scolding herself over how attractive she found the woman that she almost missed what her neighbor had to say.

"Mr. Jiggles is Gia's cat. Kitten, actually, but he's gonna grow into a cat anyway, so the type of cat he is right now doesn't make a difference. He's been with me for the past two months because my brother's family is in Italy visiting our relatives, and my niece, Gia, asked me to watch him while they were away. I can't just say no to the kid, she's only six but she can get anyone wrapped around her little finger. I know that we can't have pets in the building, but they couldn't afford to put Mr. Jiggles in a kennel, so he's been staying with me. They're coming back Friday night, and I left the door open on accident when I went to get the mail, and either he escaped or that mean neighbor of mine got to him! You've gotta help me - Gia will never forgive me if I lost him!"

As if on cue, the woman burst into tears and collapsed into Peggy's arms, and Peggy's thoughts turned from slight irritation to how nice it felt to hold her illegally-owning-a-cat neighbor in her arms. Sighing, she wrapped her arms around the woman. She couldn't help but feel slightly guilty for being the mean neighbor, and that did not have anything to do with the fact that her neighbor was completely Peggy's type, no sir. "There, there," she said, awkwardly hugging the woman's back and discreetly getting a whiff of her shampoo (lilacs, Peggy's weakness). "I'll help you find your cat. Let me go into my apartment and put my things down first," she said as she detangled herself from her neighbor's grasp. As the woman wiped the tears from her eyes, Peggy turned to unlock the door to her apartment, accidentally dropping her keys when the woman called out to her again.

"I never got your name."

"Peggy Carter," she responded as she successfully managed to unlock her door and step into her apartment, taking several deep breaths before stepping back out into the hallway.

"Angie Martinelli," the woman responded, and took Peggy's hand and led her down the hall, "C'mon English. Let's go find this stupid cat before Fry kicks me out or my brother kills me for making his little girl cry."

* * *

 

Two hours and one extremely awkward conversation with Ms. Fry later, Mr. Jiggles was found happily purring in Angie's laundry basket, causing Angie to yelp in delight and Peggy to almost cry out of relief. Angie had seen fit to reward Peggy for their efforts with Thai food and beer. Peggy, not one to turn down free food, happily accepted, and was now enjoying Tom Yum, Gang Karee, and excellent conversation on Angie's couch. Angie had insisted Peggy not lift a finger, justifying it with "You've been working all day and then you helped me find Gia's cat, the least I can do is be your server," and Peggy had happily obliged to Angie's command. She found it very easy to be around the friendly young woman, which was not helping to quash her burgeoning infatuation. Angie had disappeared to grab more beer a few minutes ago, and the silent stretch had begun to concern Peggy, as Angie had been nothing but talkative ever since Peggy had agreed to help her.

"Is everything alright, Angie?" Peggy asked, only to be confronted with Angie emerging from her kitchen, holding the note Peggy slipped under her door the night before.

"Y'know, I've been thinking about that note the mean neighbor gave me, Peg. I thought it was weird that the person who left it spelled things like neighbor differently, but everyone has their quirks. Then you show up, with that accent of yours, and I remember that you English people are picky about your 'u's. But whatever, the attractive lady with the sexy accent is helping my gay ass find my niece's cat, so I let it slide. And then, when I'm getting our beers I see the note, and it's from an M. Carter. You happen to be Peggy Carter. That ain't a coincidence."

During her rant Angie had been coming closer and closer to where Peggy was sitting, and the Englishwoman swallowed thickly, feeling as though she was back in training, experiencing what it would be like to be on the wrong side of an interrogation. That feeling only increased as Angie stopped in front of Peggy, and bent down so she was glaring directly into Peggy's eyes.

"Peggy wouldn't happen to be short for MARGARET, would it?" Angie finished, and Peggy blushed, averting her eyes away from Angie's gaze.

"A-HA!" Angie exclaimed triumphantly, causing Peggy to jump and Mr. Jiggles, who had been napping on a nearby chair, woke up and sprinted from the room. Once tracking the cat had stopped being a viable excuse to not look at Angie, she turned back to the younger woman, only to find her pouting.

"Why didja send that mean note, Peg?" Angie asked, lower lip trembling, and Peggy's already-massive infatuation grew by three sizes. She knew Angie was an actress and knew she was likely doing that on purpose, but couldn't help but want to try and comfort her.

"Angie, please know I didn't mean anything by it. But I'm a very light sleeper, and Mr. Jiggles had been keeping me up all night ever since you moved in here. I had hoped to simply get used to it, but yesterday, when I caught him chewing on my plants, something inside me snapped. I know I should have spoken of it to you in person, but at that point in time I couldn't figure out a better solution. I'm sorry I seemed rude, but I was exhausted and upset. I hope we can still be friends."

Angie's face softened, and she sat next to Peggy, wrapping her arms around Peggy's shoulders and tugging Peggy into her chest. "I'm sorry for yellin' at ya, Peg. And I'm sorry I didn't notice Mr. Jiggles was bothering ya; I sleep like the dead. But that note scared the crap out of me."

"Hmm," Peggy sighed, thoroughly enjoying being almost buried in Angie's cleavage. "Can I make it up to you?"

"Dinner," Angie replied almost instantly, "At a nice restaurant this Saturday after I finally get rid of Mr. Jiggles. And then a movie, but back here. Ya ever seen _Imagine Me And You_?"

"Deal," Peggy said, detangling herself from Angie's grasp. The other woman's smirk told her that she was likely not as upset as the initial interrogation had made her seem. Peggy opened her mouth to explore the issue further, but a yawn betrayed how exhausted she was, and Angie immediately began packing up the remains of Peggy's food. Peggy thanked her, and before she exited 3C she turned back to Angie, her curiosity got the best of her, and she turned back to face her neighbor.

"You aren't really angry about me threatening to give you up to Fry, are you?"

Angie smirked in response, "I was a little pissed, but I got a date out of it. So we're even," she added, finishing off her sentence with a soft kiss to Peggy's cheek. "See ya on Saturday, English."

Peggy smiled to herself, entering her apartment and leaning against her door with a wistful sigh after she had closed and locked it.

Gia certainly wasn't the only member of the Martinelli family who could wrap people around her little finger.


End file.
